Habichuelas Colorados con Calabaza Guisado is a popular Puerto Rican side dish made with red kidney beans and a Caribbean squash called Calabaza. It is a hard skinned squash with orange flesh similar to Acorn or Butternut squash, either of which may be substituted in this recipe. The Calabaza squash, which is easily found in Latin markets, adds a slightly sweet and earthy flavor to the beans. Serve over cooked white rice to create a perfect a side dish for grilled, roasted or fried meats.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound chunk of Calabaza

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped Cubanelle pepper (Italian frying pepper)

3 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried cilantro

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 – 16 ounce cans red kidney beans (or if you have more time on your hands than I do, feel free to soak some dried beans)

1 – 8 ounce can tomato sauce

Method:

Peel, remove seeds and dice the Calabaza into 3/4 inch pieces.

Place the diced Calabaza into a sauce pan with enough water to cover the cubes add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt and simmer for 10 minutes or until fork tender. Drain the Calabaza reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid.

Place onions, green peppers, garlic and olive oil into a small food processor and pulse a few times until a coarse puree is achieved.

Place puree into a large thick bottomed saucepan and sauté for 5 minutes over low heat.

Add remaining ingredients plus the cooked Calabaza and the reserved 1/2 cup of cooking liquid to the sauce pan and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.

Sofrito is a blend of peppers, onions, garlic, spices and herbs used to flavor the food from Puerto Rico and many other Latin American countries. I always keep some in my freezer. When I make up a batch I freeze it in small pre-measured containers so it is ready to go when I am making rice and beans. I also use it to marinate meat.

This is the basic recipe I use to make my sofrito.

2 large green peppers (coarsely diced)

2 medium onions (coarsely diced)

6 cloves garlic

1 jalapeno pepper

1 tsp. black pepper

2 tsp. salt

3 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried cilantro

1/2 cup vegetable oil or light olive oil

Place all ingredients in a food processor and puree for 10 seconds. Spoon 4 tablespoons of mixture into small plastic cups or into hole of ice cube tray and freeze. After freezing I place the cups or cubes into a large freezer bag until ready to use.

To make Red Kidney Beans I use :

1 plastic cup of sofrito or 1 cube from ice cube tray

3 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 – 15 oz. cans Red Kidney beans (do not drain liquid)

1 – 8 oz. can tomato sauce

Place sofrito and oil into medium sized sauce pan over low heat until thawed. Then raise the heat to medium low and continue to cook for 3 minutes. Add beans and sauce to pan and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve over white rice.

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